Two decades ago, Alhaji Aliko Dangote was one person most of us loved to hate. He belongs to that small select group of Nigerians who had unfair access to government and government patronage. It has been said that behind every huge fortune lies a huge crime. That said, was Dangote the sole beneficiary of unrestricted access to Gen Babangida and all other heads of state after him? The answer is a big no. Where are the others?
I say this on behalf of the teeming masses. Whatever sins Dangote may have committed have long been forgiven him. The purgatory of the interminable board meetings, travels, financial and technical sessions that he routinely has to contend with is enough to kill four regular folks. Our Dangote inexplicably keeps going at it. The other Nigerian billionaires must think Alhaji Dangote to be really mad to take all that trouble when he can choose to take things easy. They know themselves. The public knows them. Hence I do not have to waste any time identifying them one by one. Physical and intellectual laziness is second nature to such characters. Pulling out their loot stashed overseas and investing same in productive ventures at home would involve risk and a requirement to WORK, a strange notion indeed.
Finally, I must point out that budding youth entrepreneurs do not create the quantum of jobs that a potentially growing economy, like Nigeria, needs in the absence of the Dangotes, MTNs, etc of this world. We need as many big players, both local and foreign, as we can cultivate. Apart from direct sales to the public, it is the demand from the big investors that often constitute the critical mass for the success of these youthful entrepreneurs that Emefiele covets. I doubt that the government and its nascent economic team understand these fine points.
